Very interesting book, talks about habits in people and organizations and the science behind them. Also talks about what we can do to change to be more productive in all spheres of life.
Connections it made me think of and general question you can feel free to answer if you know:
1) How the power of organizations is shown in the Wire, and how pessimistic the Wire is that people are so into routine and habit they rarely think in Meta terms to analyze their actions and thoughts. The genius of Hamsterdam is that it shows just this sort of scenario.
2) Power Distance and chain of command in organisations and the various screw ups that leads to, does it work better in Scandinavia
3) How addiction is really tied in with habits and will power and how much is a seperate biochemical disease
4) How to write a slick book like this, too much prolix but also doesn't tell you things in order and makes scientific non-fiction suspensful, a considerable achievement.
5) Being nice to people makes their ""willpower muscle" less tired, I wonder how culture specific that is and if it is referring to first year American psych students. Americans are obsessed with people being nice to them. This is relevant because it is how Starbucks makes its money. Does the same marketing strategy work overseas? Apparently it does if we use Starbucks success as a benchmark, although there could be other factors at play.
6) They could tell us more about the kids and the marshmallows. Were the ones that were impulsive at first, and did poorly later on studied in more depth? Did any improve? Develop strategies? It seems that Starbucks corporate training only turns around the lives of a select few and is not a strategy for the masses or for lazy people in general.
7) The book mentions that every habit has to have an urge-reward-relief pattern. Is this why Germans are known to obsessively clean when they feel "angstlich", and is this where the whole concept of being obsessively compulsive as a personality disorder or general disorder comes from? People also clean obsessively when they take stimulants. Do these affect the Basal Ganglia as well?
8) Some of these concepts are brilliantly shown in the movies "Network" and "Hospital" by the brilliant screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky who had an incredible eye for detail. He wrote the movies in the late seventies just as huge corporations were becoming a way of life for many people. In both instances, things go horribly wrong, two people die at the hospital due to ridiculous miscommunication and mismanagement, and the TV people don't even realize that someone is screaming obscenities live on the air because their jobs are something slightly different. Chayefsky parodies the robotic nature and stupidity and lack of flexibility of people and institutions brilliantly.
Connections it made me think of and general question you can feel free to answer if you know:
1) How the power of organizations is shown in the Wire, and how pessimistic the Wire is that people are so into routine and habit they rarely think in Meta terms to analyze their actions and thoughts. The genius of Hamsterdam is that it shows just this sort of scenario.
2) Power Distance and chain of command in organisations and the various screw ups that leads to, does it work better in Scandinavia
3) How addiction is really tied in with habits and will power and how much is a seperate biochemical disease
4) How to write a slick book like this, too much prolix but also doesn't tell you things in order and makes scientific non-fiction suspensful, a considerable achievement.
5) Being nice to people makes their ""willpower muscle" less tired, I wonder how culture specific that is and if it is referring to first year American psych students. Americans are obsessed with people being nice to them. This is relevant because it is how Starbucks makes its money. Does the same marketing strategy work overseas? Apparently it does if we use Starbucks success as a benchmark, although there could be other factors at play.
6) They could tell us more about the kids and the marshmallows. Were the ones that were impulsive at first, and did poorly later on studied in more depth? Did any improve? Develop strategies? It seems that Starbucks corporate training only turns around the lives of a select few and is not a strategy for the masses or for lazy people in general.
7) The book mentions that every habit has to have an urge-reward-relief pattern. Is this why Germans are known to obsessively clean when they feel "angstlich", and is this where the whole concept of being obsessively compulsive as a personality disorder or general disorder comes from? People also clean obsessively when they take stimulants. Do these affect the Basal Ganglia as well?
8) Some of these concepts are brilliantly shown in the movies "Network" and "Hospital" by the brilliant screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky who had an incredible eye for detail. He wrote the movies in the late seventies just as huge corporations were becoming a way of life for many people. In both instances, things go horribly wrong, two people die at the hospital due to ridiculous miscommunication and mismanagement, and the TV people don't even realize that someone is screaming obscenities live on the air because their jobs are something slightly different. Chayefsky parodies the robotic nature and stupidity and lack of flexibility of people and institutions brilliantly.
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